LOGINMargaret
My son was sitting up when I walked into the room, and I felt a wave of relief before I could stop it. He was still pale, still weak, and there was nothing normal about seeing him surrounded by monitors and hospital equipment, but two days earlier I had not been certain he would wake up at all. Seeing him upright and conscious was enough for me to put every other concern aside for a moment.The tray on the table had been left half-finished, and Doris was already siEvelynDamien drove me to court that morning, and for most of the journey neither of us said much. I was grateful for that. I had barely slept, and every time I tried to think through what might happen in court, I found myself going over the same questions without finding an answer. Kendall sat beside Raymond in the back seat, while Theo had gone ahead to meet the lawyer Damien had arranged to represent me. Nobody tried to fill the silence simply because silence was easier to bear than another conversation about what had happened the day before.By the time we reached the courthouse, the press was already waiting outside. Cameras were raised before I had even stepped away from the car, and I heard my name several times from people calling questions at me. I had experienced just enough trauma with the media that I was not ready to begin one again. I lowered my head and kept walking. Damien stayed close beside me, and Kendall and Raymond followed behind us while Theo met us near the en
EvelynKendall moved closer to me and sat beside me. I leaned against her without thinking.“I knew something was wrong,” I said. “Theo kept trying to warn me, and I kept telling myself I would be careful. I even told myself I would read everything. Then I got there and all I wanted was to be finished with Adrian. Margaret kept talking while I was reading, and I let myself believe that the extra pages were exactly what she said they were. I initialled where the lawyer told me to initial because I thought I was dealing with closing language. I gave them the opening.”Kendall put an arm around my shoulders. “You wanted the divorce. That is all you were supposed to be thinking about. They knew that. They took advantage of it. Theo is already preparing to challenge the agreement, and you are definitely not going to be present in the Parker’s household to work for them.”I closed my eyes. “What if the judge says I signed it?”“Then Theo argues why you signed it, how you were presented with
EvelynI could not stay in that room any longer. I was angry enough to do something stupid, and I knew Margaret would use that against me before the day was over. Theo came toward me and placed a hand on my arm, but I pulled away immediately.“Don't,” I said. “I can walk.”“I know you can.”He waited until I was ready, then followed me out. We went down the stairs and into his car without either of us saying anything. I sat in the passenger seat and stared at my hands throughout the drive. I kept looking at them because I still could not understand how they had become attached to a document that required me to work in the Parker household.Theo drove for several minutes before he finally spoke.“I told you not to sign anything this week.”I turned toward him. “Please don't start.”“I am not starting an argument with you. I am telling you what happens now. I am going to take this to court first thing in the morning, and if there is any way to get the matter before a judge tonight, I wi
EvelynMargaret speaking in puzzles wasn’t helping.“What the hell does that mean?”Nobody answered me until the lawyer finally spoke. “You have consented to repaying the debt the Marcellos owe the Parker household through domestic services.”I looked at the lawyer first because he had been the one explaining the document, but instead of answering, he calmly closed the folder in front of him and pushed it back toward Margaret. The movement was so deliberate that for a second I could not believe what I was seeing but it was beginning to make sense in my head.He had just told me that I had accepted an obligation to perform domestic service in the Parker household, and now he was behaving as though the signing had simply reached its natural conclusion.I turned toward Adrian. He sat in the wheelchair with the blanket still covering his legs, his face turned toward the table. Doris stood beside him, suddenly very interested in the papers she had been holding.“I'm asking you what that me
EvelynDoris shifted behind Adrian. And from the corner of my eyes, I noticed. Margaret remained ever still.“We don’t have all morning.”I turned toward her, unsure of how to reply to her, feeling the hatred towards her hanging on my chest… a child murderer, she was.Adrian looked at his mother. “Let her read it.”Margaret’s expression hardened, but she said nothing.The lawyer slid the first set of documents toward me.I read slowly.The language was formal, but it was straightforward. My name. Adrian’s name. The date of the marriage. The terms of the dissolution. The release of the claims that had existed between us. Nothing immediately concerned me.I turned the page.Then I reached Schedule B. It was considerably longer. The heading referred to prior family arrangements and outstanding obligations connected to the original terms of the marriage. My stomach tightened.I started rea
EvelynDamien and I went to bed earlier than usual that night because neither of us had much left to say. We had spent enough time discussing the meeting, what Theo had warned me about and what I intended to do when the papers were placed in front of me. Neither of us wanted to spend the whole night going over the same possibilities, especially when we both knew that by morning I would have to make a decision. We lay facing each other in the dark, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his body, and for a while we simply talked about ordinary things because ordinary things were what I wanted to remember when I thought about that night.“When this is finally over,” I said, “I want to start again. I don’t mean going back to the way things were before Adrian. I mean something completely different. I want to work again, have a place that belongs to us.” I paused, then smiled. “Maybe somewhere near the water. I don’t know why I’ve suddenly become obsessed with that, but I keep imagi







